990825.0241 watermill , st mary’s

in my tent . a long , slowly-intensifying peal of thunder . perhaps forty seconds from beginning to end . a storm has been building for the last couple of days . strange weather . the cumulo nimbus were massing yesterday evening .

a forceful tirade of rain on the tent . it has been coming and going , building up , for the last half hour . the thunder is closer now .

i biked up from old town to the workshop about an hour ago

the rain intensifies further
a flash of lightning bright enough to see over the torchlight

the islands have been submerged in a fog bank for the last couple of days .
occasionally it disperses completely in the course of half an hour

more lightning
i could tell the direction so it must be forking
it came from behind me , through the trees
probably striking up at telegraph
the highest point on the island
the radio masts which stand there must get fried all the time

then returns just as mysteriously a little later . the islands are notorious for their fogs . quite as many vessels have foundered in these conditions as in storms . but this is only the second or third one i’ve seen this year .

i stuck my sax in my rucksack and biked down to old town after supper to try out some stuff with ben on his digerido ( he told me its much better aboriginal name but i’ve forgotten it already ) . on monday night i had a splendid little jam with ben and steve on bass and guitar respectively . along with gaz and his drums we’re getting together a song for sunday’s open-air festival on porth hellick . hope the weather comes round a bit , particularly since i’m missing notting hill carnival to be here ( the best thing which happens in london ) .

cycling back up from old town was very mysterious . the fog lay swirling over the ground and somewhere in the sky was a bright moon . quite enough light to cycle without lamps . i stopped to take some photographs before realising that my camera was still in my smaller backpack . the one time i decide to leave it behind . typical . whenever i relax my policy of having it with me at all times i find myself in a situation where i desperately want it .

oh dear . my tent’s leaking .

: cH